Posts Tagged ‘Thunderstone’

Thunderstoners! We’re one step closer to solving the mystery of the THUNDERSTONE line-up!

But first: We want to thank everyone who submitted their auditions to us. We can honestly say that it would have been an honour to work with any of you. Keep up the good work and stay metal!

Second: We do apologise for taking much longer than we anticipated. If you listened to all the submissions carefully—like we did, dozens of times—you’ll know how difficult the choice was.

Yet, a choice has been made. We are proud to announce that we have asked three people to come and jam with us live so that we can make the final decision. We want to find a person who is not only a great drummer but also a filthy drunk bastard—erm, nice person—like the rest of us. The three people are, in alphabetical order: TONI PAANANEN, ATTE PALOKANGAS, and TUOMAS VUORIO.

Congrats to the three and thank you all for your patience. The live auditions will be held at the end of the month and we hope to have a decision some time in the beginning of February. STAY TUNED AND SPREAD THE WORD!

That’s right, for the first time in the history of the band, we are putting out an open call for drummers to audition for THUNDERSTONE! And we want to make it a process that everyone can enjoy, so read the next paragraphs carefully.

This is what you need to do:

1. Listen to the song ‘Forevermore’ (from Evolution 4.0)

2. Practise

3. Record your playing on top of the backing track. You can do this either with a multitrack or just blasting away in front of your phone camera—as long as we can hear the original in the background.

5. When sending the link or the file, add the following text: ‘I give Thunderstone permission to use this recording on all social media platforms’.

6. OPTIONAL: If you have videos of your earlier performances on YouTube or elsewhere, send us a link. This is not required for consideration.

7. DO NOT link your video to the Thunderstone FB page by yourself. We want to build a YouTube channel from these submissions so that fans can find all of them in one place—and we want to keep the excitement going on!

We are extremely happy and proud to welcome Pasi back to the THUNDERSTONE family and look forward to creating something truly magical with him in the future. Says Titus: ‘Asking Pasi to come back was a no-brainer, really. He has one of the best voices in the scene and many people beyond Thunderstone fans were wondering what he was doing with his incredible talent. We’re really excited to be working with him again’.

And here’s Pasi’s statement:

‘Dear Thunderstone fans and friends

I’m back! And man, it feels good too! Leaving Thunderstone was a difficult decision and something that I regretted more than once during my time away. So when the guys approached me about a possible reunion, I had no second thoughts. I missed the music, the friendship, the craziness, and most importantly, the SMELL!

Thanks for all your support during the years. Stay tuned for some amazing stuff from THUNDERSTONE!’

Once again, remember to leave a comment, send private messages and SPREAD THE NEWS by sharing this update! Most importantly, check in next Friday for the fourth installment of THUNDERSTONE news.

After last week’s announcement of the departure of their drummer, the band announced another departure this week, singer Rick Altzi.

THUNDERSTONE has parted ways with singer Rick Altzi, who joined the band in 2009 and is featured on the much-acclaimed album ‘Dirt Metal’. As many of you know, Rick recently joined our friends Masterplan and is currently touring with them. The band would like to thank Rick for an amazing job on ‘Dirt Metal’ and the countless fun times on tour. Cheers brother and good luck with your future endeavours! Here’s Rick’s statement:

‘It’s with mixed feelings that I and the rest of Thunderstone have decided to part ways. On the one hand I really loved the album ‘Dirt metal’ and feel proud of what we achieved. On the other hand I now realise I wouldn’t have had the time that a great band like Thunderstone deserves. I wish the guys a great future.’

Again, remember to leave a comment, send private messages and spread the news by sharing this update! Most importantly, check in next Friday for the third (very exciting, we must add!) installment of THUNDERSTONE news.

THUNDERSTONE has parted ways with drummer Mirka Rantanen. The band would like to thank Mirka for an amazing 10+ years as part of the mayhem crew. These are big boots to fill! Here’s Mirka’s message to the fans:

‘It has been a fantastic ten plus years with Thunderstone: touring, meeting great people and recording killer albums. Now, however, it’s time for me to call it a day and move on to new challenges. But be assured, you’ll be hearing from me in other projects! It’s time to say goodbye and thank you to the current and past members of the band, our road crews, record labels, management, and most importantly you, dear Thunderstone fans! Let the demons free until we touch the burning sun!’

Remember to leave a comment on our wall , send private messages, and spread the news! Most importantly, check in next Friday for the second installment of THUNDERSTONE news.

The long silence is over! We know many of you have wondered what’s become of THUNDERSTONE—some even declaring the band dead. Well, we aren’t dead yet! In fact, in the next four weeks, we will announce major news regarding the band here and on Twitter. Stay tuned every Friday and you’ll know what’s happening in the near future. Believe me, it’s going to be exciting stuff!

Rumours abound of the reactivation of the Finnish group Thunderstone. As of today, the band’s Facebook page carries the rather cryptic message “very soon”… leading to speculation that big news is just around the corner.

Thunderstone has not released an album since 2009’s DIRT METAL which saw the introduction of new vocalist Rick Altzi who replaced longtime Thunderstone voice Pasi Rantanen.

Metal-Rules.com will monitor the situation and will post updates as they unfold.

Once again the prestigious Tuska open air metal festival is here. Thousands of metalheads have travelled from all around Finland and other countries to the central park of Kaisaniemi in order to celebrate the real metal inferno in the middle of Helsinki. This year the Tuska metal festival celebrates its tenth anniversary and of course the offering of the line-up of bands is as colorful as in the previous events.

Getting the mighty Norwegian black metal legends like Emperor and Immortal have been the most awaited ones amongst the audience for sure. However although these so-called big black metal legends definitely attract more of the extreme metal fans, the festival is not limited to one certain metal category. Everyone has something to feel and see and taste during these three days. Above all, power metal had a strong line up – for example Blind Guardian and Stratovarius, being the most known names in Tuska?s bill in 2007.

The festival has become a real guaranteed pure metal festival and has had massive popularity amongst all kinds of metalheads of all ages. The majority of the tickets were already sold out quickly in the advance sales a long time ago. However there were some leftovers if someone was willing to buy, and taste a feeling of metal after all.

Metal-Rules.com was again at Tuska to give an exact review and article on bands. Therefore sit down and enjoy your reading.

What happens in the middle of July in the central park of the summer city of Helsinki every year? Well, what a easy question, the annual Tuska Open Air Metal festival takes place every year at that time. It pulls in over 33.000 metal hearts of all ages and all kinds of persons to spend an unforgettable metallic feast in the heart of Helsinki. As it is said The Gods made heavy metal which has turned out be nothing but right in every aspect as the weather was extremely warm and hot during the whole weekend apart from a few darker clouds having gathered around the area when Dimmu Borgir stepped on the stage and in general the atmosphere was peaceful and bigger problems managed to be avoided, thanks to the common metal spirit of the Finnish die hard metal freaks.

The bill of 2005 didn?t offer any offer so-called any big selling names like Nightwish being one of the headlining acts at Tuska last year, but instead a variety of different metal genres were at present ranging from a hyper-blasting grindcore to a more melancholic Finnish mainstream rock. Having a large range of metal proves Tuska is not limited to one certain metal category as everyone had something to feel, taste and see during the three long days.

The Tuska Open Air festival has reached and gained a lot of positive attention amongst the metal people around the world. There were people having arrived from Russia, Estonia, Sweden, all around Europe and even from some Far East countries. Despite not having a big name, the metal festival was totally sold out and even a few hundred leftover tickets for Friday were sold after all.

As usual it has turned out to be an annual mandatory tradition for having an article of the Tuska festival in Metal-Rules.Com, therefore the Finnish Metal-Rules.Com pain squad spent the whole weekend testifying several acts in action and tried to feel the spirit of Heavy Metal and enjoy the pleasure of the flesh as well during the three insane long days in the beautiful central park of Kaisaniemi and in the heart of Helsinki with several friends as well as everlasting enemies. Enjoy?